After reading many books and articles on structure, I'm a bit bedazzled, even disoriented as far as the structure of a story goes, regardless if it's a movie or a television series.
What structure makes the most sense to you all? What should the most simple way of structuring the story, while acknowledging the plot's logical path, the importance of the characters and its themes?
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I think all structure is essentially the same three-act structure that goes back to Aristotle (even if it calls itself five-acts or something else). If you draw them all out, the beats essentially hit the same point. The difference is the way "into" the story for the writer. Personally, when I studied screenwriting in school, the primary sources were Robert McKee's 'Story' (which I love but can be daunting) and Syd Field's 'Screenwriting'. When I give writers notes, I usually tell them to think of plot points in structure as an emotional 'check-in' showing the audience where the protag is in their arc. In that way, you're really just boiling it down to like 8-10 crucial beats
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Also, not that you NEED more resources, but these two are pretty good:
https://www.stage32.com/classes/Create-Your-Feature-Film-Outline-With-A-...
https://www.stage32.com/classes/The-Definitive-Class-on-The-Heros-Journe...
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Marcel Nault Jr. I agree with Emily J. I use the three-act structure.
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I like the emotional 'check-in' at each plot point, Emily J. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.
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The three act structure is the most common and a good thing to understand. But as my friend (and outstanding investigator) Steph H would say “guidelines appreciated by the wise and adhered to by the fool”.
For myself a story will find its own structure in a few pages, then I must follow that. Most stories will have a linear Start, Middle and End.
But I am also writing a story that has two storyline’s being intercut. Story A is the main story and Story B appears to be the back story for the Antagonist. At the end of the screenplay the last scene is the scene that started the entire screenplay which just happens to be the end of the antagonist story (b).
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Just write the script, see what happens...you can fix it all the way to the eternity afterwards, but can't do anything with a blank page...
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Keep it moving, focus on engaging whoever is reading/watching. What I did before writing my first pilot was to sit and patiently transcribe a pilot I particularly liked for its pacing. The transcript included timing every scene. It was a good exercise and also gave me a sort of template to guide me.
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I like the four-act structure... Start with a bang and an inciting incident, The journey to achieve and a big failure at the midpoint. Give up and with some help try again with more determination, Fail or win with redemption... may be poetic justice...
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Hi Marcel - here’s a great Stage 32 class on screenwriting structure that I highly recommend. I think you’ll find this illuminating and helpful: https://www.stage32.com/classes/Create-Your-Feature-Film-Outline-With-A-...
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I just try to create a world of "this happens, and that happens, why now, what happens if characters fail or succeed". Lots of conflict.
And I go back to Billy Wilder tips. His theories work for me.
https://screencraft.org/blog/10-screenwriting-tips-from-billy-wilder/
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Thanks for sharing, Dan! All great tips. I really like this one: "...Make movies about things YOU care about. Write things that matter on a personal level and people will pick up on that and it will never seem like work."